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Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

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Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#91

Post by ryandrake »

brettgriffin wrote: post #90
ryandrake wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is 2, the ability to grind/memorize random problems, important for any company? I can't think of any company I've worked at, where that would be useful during my day to day work.

You don't think rote learning is a desirable skill of candidates that employers look for? Can you think of anything we do for, say, the first two decades of our life, that could send this signal?

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't think the ability to memorize dozens of algorithms and then spit them out on demand is really that useful to most practicing software developers, nor is it a good signal about one's technical expertise.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#92

Post by pvg »

constantcrying wrote: post #89
pvg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are allowed to criticize it but you can't fulminate and you can't go on some generic tangent, just like pretty much always? It's both in the Show HN thing https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html and the site thing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

How is criticizing the premise of something a "generic tangent"? If the premise behind something is bad the whole thing is bad. Evaluating something obviously needs to account for the context it exists in. In fact talking about this particular Show HN is impossible without implicitly or explicitly taking a position on the hiring process. If the current hiring practices were good, having resources to succeed in them w…

If the premise behind something is bad the whole thing is bad.

Then find a thread where the premise is being discussed, if that's how you feel, or write your own post about the faults of the premise. "The premise of your whole thing is invalid" is not something you can grumpdump on someone showing their work. The, well, premise of Show HN is people showcasing their work specifically - it's not an invitation for everyone to express their views on general things they dislike.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#93

Post by throwanem »

williamdclt wrote: post #68
throwanem wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

They didn't say anything about acting? They said men have to "sustain" - ie hold an erection without ejaculating.

Right. Acting. It isn't more difficult for men because their part is, uh, hydraulically obvious. More to the point, it isn't less hard work for women. I get why guys assume it would be, though. Good grief, I bet you probably think you've never seen anyone fake an orgasm outside a porno, too...

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#94

Post by BeetleB »

stmw wrote: post #85
BeetleB wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> namely to weed out people who can't code. You don't need Leetcode style tests to weed those out. Much simpler problems will do it.

I think we may have disagreement on what Leetcode means in this context -- but it has to be complicated and varied enough that simply memorizing the solution is not sufficient. It being interesting is a bonus for other parts of the technical interview.

Sure but there are varying degrees. I often ask people to write a factorial function. Quite a few fail at this basic task.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#95

Post by bornfreddy »

stmw wrote: post #86
bornfreddy wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh. There is a world of difference between 1337code problems and anything one encounters in the real life. Judging someone by that 1h slot on a domain they haven't worked on for decades doesn't paint the right picture. It does tell a lot about the priorities of the company though, so there's that.

I think it paints part of a picture - obviously you shouldn't hire just based on top score in an algorithmic interview. But if I interview someone for a JOB WRITING CODE with decades of experience and they refuse to write code and can't explain the difference between a linked list and an array, that's a good argument for reconsidering hiring them...

Sure, explain. Write? Not sure about that. The main question is what kind of code they are supposed to write. Have you actually used a linked list in a company setting? I know the difference, but can't say I've used it... ever, in a company setting. I guess if I worked for Redis or similar this would be base requirement, but for 98% of software development jobs I don't see where this could be useful.

My experience is the opposite - developers eager to squeeze every last drop, using some exotic data structure [*] or sorting algorithm which takes way too long to implement and makes code review a nightmare. For a feature that doesn't need it.

[*] not saying that linked list is exotic, it is just rarely needed in $DAYJOB in my experience.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#96

Post by IshKebab »

tanchaowen84 wrote: post #32

To be honest, I’ve done quite a bit of LeetCode, and while it’s great for practicing algorithms and problem-solving, I’ve found that I rarely use these “fancy” algorithms in my actual work. Most of the time, what really matters is breaking down requirements into clear logic, writing maintainable and collaborative code, and communicating well with the team. These skills are hard to assess through algorithm-focused int…

I think it really depends on the job. In most jobs I've had the algorithms rarely get more complicated than just avoiding accidental O(N^2). The sort of thing where juniors would do a linear search.

But I did have one job working on an AI graph compiler which used fancy algorithms all over the place. In practice though I found the space between "use the standard library" and "it's NP-complete; use heuristics" where the answer is "you can use this neat dynamic programming trick" is basically nonexistent.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#97

Post by constantcrying »

pvg wrote: post #92
constantcrying wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is criticizing the premise of something a "generic tangent"? If the premise behind something is bad the whole thing is bad. Evaluating something obviously needs to account for the context it exists in. In fact talking about this particular Show HN is impossible without implicitly or explicitly taking a position on the hiring process. If the current hiring practices were good, having resources to succeed in them w…

If the premise behind something is bad the whole thing is bad. Then find a thread where the premise is being discussed, if that's how you feel, or write your own post about the faults of the premise. "The premise of your whole thing is invalid" is not something you can grumpdump on someone showing their work. The, well, premise of Show HN is people showcasing their work specifically - it's not an invitation for every…

The idea that criticizing something by criticizing its premise is off topic or unrelated is ridiculous.

>"The premise of your whole thing is invalid" is not something you can grumpdump on someone showing their work.

Why? It is obviously extremely relevant and on topic. Also don't pretend this is some drive by "This sucks because hiring sucks". I specifically am criticizing the specific aspect this Show HN is targeting.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#99

Post by pvg »

constantcrying wrote: post #97
pvg wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the premise behind something is bad the whole thing is bad. Then find a thread where the premise is being discussed, if that's how you feel, or write your own post about the faults of the premise. "The premise of your whole thing is invalid" is not something you can grumpdump on someone showing their work. The, well, premise of Show HN is people showcasing their work specifically - it's not an invitation for every…

The idea that criticizing something by criticizing its premise is off topic or unrelated is ridiculous. >"The premise of your whole thing is invalid" is not something you can grumpdump on someone showing their work. Why? It is obviously extremely relevant and on topic. Also don't pretend this is some drive by "This sucks because hiring sucks". I specifically am criticizing the specific aspect this Show HN is targetin…

Why?

Because it's shitty and tedious? It's so shitty and so tedious there there are forum (beside basic human) conventions against it. They're right in the links above. Your comment is flagged dead. What further explanations are necessary here, really? "Don't be an internet jerk" is hardly an abstruse or unusual social concept.

Also don't pretend this is some drive by "This sucks because hiring sucks"

I don't have to pretend, it's the literal tangent that you took.

Re: Show HN: Every problem and solution in Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview

#100

Post by constantcrying »

pvg wrote: post #99
constantcrying wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that criticizing something by criticizing its premise is off topic or unrelated is ridiculous. >"The premise of your whole thing is invalid" is not something you can grumpdump on someone showing their work. Why? It is obviously extremely relevant and on topic. Also don't pretend this is some drive by "This sucks because hiring sucks". I specifically am criticizing the specific aspect this Show HN is targetin…

Why? Because it's shitty and tedious? It's so shitty and so tedious there there are forum (beside basic human) conventions against it. They're right in the links above. Your comment is flagged dead. What further explanations are necessary here, really? "Don't be an internet jerk" is hardly an abstruse or unusual social concept. Also don't pretend this is some drive by "This sucks because hiring sucks" I don't have to…

I do not believe that I even came close to breaking any rules or that I even went slightly off topic.

Of course I was "shitty", by not giving someone a pat on the back for their "hard work", simply because I think what they did is a waste of time and effort. Obviously I know that criticizing someone, who has put in significant work is very looked down upon.

This is also one of the reason I was flagged, the other wing people very invested in that hiring process for whatever reason taking issue with my position.

I do not mind a negative reaction to my comments, obviously I had to expect it. But my comment was on topic and it was flagged for going against the social convention of being generally supportive of people showcasing their work. If it makes me a "jerk" to point out that people have wasted their time on some stupid project, then so be it.

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